May 2018

May 31, 2018

Evan Rachel Wood and Julia Sarah Stone are 2 really amazing young actresses to watch. A film where they get to work together and dominate the screen should be incredible to watch. And yet Allure is a tedious film to sit through to the end.

Laura (Evan Rachel Wood) is a messed-up person right from the start. Eva (Julia Sarah Stone) is a teenage girl whose life is pretty good but there are a few problem spots.

Laura cleans houses, including Eva's home. Laura makes the moves on Eva, complimenting her incessantly. All of a sudden, Eva ends up at Laura's place.

There is virtually no character development in the film. Character motivations for anything feel haphazard and random. Eva is trapped in a horrible circumstance but the audience is numb. There is a scene where Eva almost gets on a city bus, a potential for freedom. Instead of a dramatic moment, the scene feels false like they threw it in to serve an insincere purpose. Later Eva is riding a bike as if her life is normal.

Why does Eva stay? Why doesn't she leave? That would be nice to know, but you won't find out from watching the film.

You could find yourself interested in Laura's motivations. She has had a troubled past and does little to make that better. Her behavior is so random that you might get dizzy processing all of her moods.

Et Au Pire, On Se Mariera with Sophie Nélisse had its problems as a film, but you could see her motivations as a character.

The only point where you see the mother (Maxim Roy) after Eva disappeared is when Laura goes back to clean the house. The mother character says the police has given up the search and asks Laura to pass out flyers. The mother seems exhausted reading her lines, but they are bad lines. You are supposed to feel something in that scene but the lack of interest in the characters means the audience doesn't care.

This clearly isn't on the level of a Lifetime made-for-TV movie, but certain parts of this film make you feel like you are in that world.

The film runs about 105 minutes. If you do sit through it, you'll be checking in to ask yourself how much longer is this film.

Wood and Stone do as well as they can with the material. Denis O'Hare is perfectly cast as Laura's father; his character motivations are a lot clearer. There is a scene where Laura and Eva are telling each other how they don't deserve to be where they are. The scene felt more like their inner monologue as actresses wondering why the hell they are in this film.

Brothers Carlos and Jason Sanchez wrote and directed the film. Their music choices were good, both soundtrack and mood. They are artists more than filmmakers, hopefully. They should go back to their day job. Or get writers who can create characters worth knowing and following.

If the Sanchez brothers used their hometown of Montréal for filming, they found a way to take out every remarkable element of the city. The incentive might have been to keep the French out for easier U.S. distribution, but they made Montréal look really boring.

May 30, 2018

Judy Greer is enough of a reason to see Adventures in Public School, but you will also find yourself enrolled in a smart, sweet film.

Adventures in Public School follows a home-schooled boy who is about to take the graduation test to pass high school. He has to take the test at a public school where he falls in love with a girl with one leg. So he messes up the test to go to public school to get closer to the girl.

TIFF Rising Star 2017 Daniel Doheny carries the film as Liam, who thinks of his mother (Judy Greer) as his best friend and is wholesome enough to back that up. A kid adjusting to public school could easily go in a bad direction within a film. The film could easily make fun of these characters for cheap laughs but Kyle Rideout and Josh Epstein, who have cameos in the film in their day job as actors, let the characters shine in their awkwardness.

Without giving too much away, the film is really inclusive in a delightful way. A running joke is handled sweetly.

Andrea Bang (Kim's Convenience) plays a girl who is also home-schooled by her mother (Grace Park). Park has a bit of fun with her character; good to see her let loose in a less serious role. Russell Peters plays an offbeat guidance counselor who says Liam should be a massage therapist instead of an astronomer.

The relationship between Claire (Greer) and Liam requires a lot of intimacy without being over the top or creepy. Greer and Doheny play this together so well. Claire supervises his rebellion from smoking his grandma's marijuana inside the car to getting him to swear to following him to his first college party.

Adventures in Public School handles a lot of complexities and oddities and presents them in a sweet but not saccharine fashion. The film is smart but not overbearing. This film is another good example of a Canadian film treating the audience with intelligence more than an American film would do with a similar plot.

May 29, 2018

Winnipeg isn't one of the big 3 in Canada (Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver). Winnipeg is often too cold and occasionally too hot. The tourism activities aren't as obvious. But Winnipeg can be a fun travel destination.

The city of Winnipeg and its people got a lot of notice and publicity from the exciting hockey run this spring for the Winnipeg Jets. The Winnipeg Whiteout inside Bell MTS Place and the even larger crowd outside the arena looked great on television. NBC even carried 2 games in Winnipeg, a first for the Jets in recent memory.

Winnipeg has been on display in recent times from the 2015 Women's World Cup to the 2016 Heritage Classic to the 2015 Grey Cup. The Forks area is really nice. The Canadian Museum of Human Rights was a meaningful stop. St. Boniface has a French twist to the Prairies. Watch a CFL game where the fans are passionate.

So to honour the recent success of Winnipeg in the spotlight, we have a few articles from the archives spotlighting an interesting place that is Winnipeg. And save some room for Saskatoon berry pie.

May 25, 2018

Editor's note:This story was updated on June 26 with the release of the shows set for the 9:30 pm slot on Tuesdays.

The CBC release of new programming and schedules shows an embarrassment of riches. There are quite a few new dramas, all but 1 are Canadian. This also leads to some awkward programming nights. The loss of the Rick Mercer Report will be huge, but a couple of summer shows have moved to the fall to help fill the gaps.

Most of the awkwardness of the schedule has gravitated to Wednesday and Thursday nights. Wednesdays will have reality, drama, and comedy at some point in the fall and winter.

Murdoch Mysteries (fall and winter) and Frankie Drake Mysteries (fall) make a nice pair on Monday nights. Coroner and Street Legal take over the post-Murdoch Monday timeslot in the winter. Coroner (8 episodes) is from Morwyn Brebner, co-creator of the CTV drama Saving Hope. Street Legal (6 episodes) is a reboot of the CBC series that ran from 1987-1994 and bringing back Cynthia Dale (above) from the original show.

The Tuesday night comedy theme will miss the Rick Mercer Report. CBC moved up 2 of its summer shows — Still Standing and the Baroness von Sketch Show — to bookend This Hour Has 22 Minutes in the fall lineup. Kim’s Convenience starts the night on Tuesday followed by This Hour Has 22 Minutes with the traditional players of Schitt’s Creek and Workin’ Moms. The original press release does not list a show at 9:30 pm on Tuesdays in the fall.

The Great Canadian Baking Show (8 episodes) shares the early Wednesday slot with Canada’s Smartest Person Junior (6 episodes) for kids age 8-12 hosted by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Kim’s Convenience). The theme shifts to drama in the winter with the return of Burden of Truth (8 episodes) and the debut of Diggstown. The new drama (6 episodes) set in the world of legal aid. The press release notes that this is “the first original Canadian drama series featuring a black female lead character.”

The 9 pm Wednesday timeslot starts with a non-Canadian drama Vanity Fair (7 episodes), an adaptation of the William Makepeace Thackeray novel. The focus switches to comedy with the final 8 episodes of the long run of Mr. D paired up with the Halifax Comedy Festival (6 episodes). The timeslot concludes with Unspeakable (8 episodes), a depiction of the tainted blood scandal that began in the early 1980s in Canada.

The post Dragons Den timeslot starts with more episodes of The Detectives (8 episodes). From the Vaults (6 episodes) is where hosts Amanda Parris and Tom Power focus on the history through the sounds of Canadian music. Then the slot goes to comedy with Cavendish (8 episodes), the only new CBC comedy on the schedule. Bickering brothers move back to their hometown in Prince Edward Island to take care of their ailing father. Cavendish will be paired with new episodes of Little Dog (8 episodes).

In the post Marketplace timeslot on Friday, In the Making (8 episodes) profiles Canada’s most extraordinary creators. The Stats of Life (8 episodes) is back with new episodes. Under New Management (4 episodes) follows budding entrepreneurs. CBC Docs POV takes over in the 9 pm slot.

The Fifth Estate moves to the late Sunday slot. Heartland will share the 7 pm early Sunday evening slot with the return of Anne with an E in the fall. The Nature of Things remains in the 8pm timeslot.

The post Baroness timeslot will be split with 2 British comedies with 6-episode runs. Hang Ups is about an online therapist. In the Long Run is from Idris Elba and his inspirations based from his inner city-London childhood. Seems like running the last few episodes of Mr. D would have better scheduled for Tuesday nights.

Investigators with Diana Swain moves to Thursdays at 7 pm while Exhibitionists moves into the Friday 11:30 pm timeslot after the local news.

Lane Merrifield and Vincenzo Guzzo will join Dragons Den this fall. They will be in place of Michael Wekerle and Joe Mimran, who are leaving the show

CBC Fall 2018

Monday

Murdoch Mysteries 8pFrankie Drake Mysteries 9p

Tuesday

Still Standing 8pThis Hour Has 22 Minutes 8:30pBaroness von Sketch Show 9pHang Ups/In the Long Run 9:30p

Editor's note:The schedule has been changed to reflect the additional TSN telecast of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Montréal on June 9. Johnny Manziel might be a factor in that decision. RDS will also have the game. ESPN+ will carry the TSN feed. Also, the Argos home game will be in Guelph, not BMO Field.

The CFL preseason might have sneaked up on you, but the 2018 CFL regular season is starting earlier as well. All the Canadian teams are out of the 2018 Stanley Cup playoff teams, so why not have some football.

The action starts Sunday with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Edmonton. Toronto has the quickest turnaround with its preseason games at 6 days.

The CFL is temporarily back in Guelph, Ontario for the Argos "home" preseason game due to work on BMO Field.

The quarterback carousel that has been the off-season, not just Johnny Manziel, will lead to some intriguing chemistry experiments on the field.

The regular season starts June 14 with an extra week: a 21-week regular season. We'll have more of that in our CFL preview.

TSN will carry 4 CFL preseason games. Every team will be on TSN except for the Calgary Stampeders. Those games are available on ESPN+, the service that replaced WatchESPN aka ESPN3.

The ESPN+ service costs $4.99/month or $49.99/year. I would pay that much for TSN, but that isn't on the menu. The money is a good deal if you have Sling TV or no cable at all. The CFL is only part of the ESPN+ service: lots of MLS games plus a daily MLB game and, starting next fall, a daily NHL game, hopefully some from the TSN properties.

I understand the reluctance to pay for what we got for free over the last few years. The ESPN channels will have a select, primarily early-season TV package. The condensed versions of games at CFL.ca remain an option.

May 23, 2018

Saving and growing Canadian journalism has a soft spot for us at CanadianCrossing.com because of 1) journalism; 2) Canada; 3) Canadians; and 4) accountability. We recently wrote about the idea of putting government money into non-profit news ventures.

Now one well-established Montréal newspaper is going the non-profit route. La Presse, which has been completely online since the beginning of 2018, announced that the paper will go the non-profit route and will cut ties with the Desmarais family, who will donate $50 million to the not-for-profit.

La Presse is one of 4 major Montréal newspapers avec Le Devoir and Le Journal de Montréal en Francaise and the lone English-language newspaper, the Gazette.

La Presse has gone through significant changes in recent years, giving up Sundays in 2009 and weekdays in 2016. The Saturday printed edition went out as 2017 ended. Le Journal de Montréal is the only printed Montréal newspaper to be available on Sundays. In Canada, the major weekend paper is on Saturdays, not Sundays.

La Presse said the newspaper will now be able to raise donations based on the new status. The newspaper doesn't serve as the typical example of how the potential smaller non-profits will work, but in an era of learning by example, La Presse should offer lessons, good and bad, on how non-profit journalism can work in Canada and elsewhere.

May 22, 2018

Canada's largest province by population is having the kind of election cycle that makes the race feel as big as the province itself. The national and international headlines focus on Doug Ford, brother of the late Rob Ford, and his bid for the Progressive Conservatives to return to power in Ontario.

Premier Kathleen Wynne from the Liberal Party has been in charge since 2013. The Liberals have been in power since 2003. The PCs were in charge from 1995-2003. The NDP did hold power from 1990-1995 under Bob Rae, who switched to the Liberals and is now Canada's special envoy to Myanmar.

Normally, these past associations would be ancient history. But for Andrea Horwath, New Democratic Party leader since 2009, the NDP in Ontario runs under a shadow of the era from 1990-1995. Ford is running under the shadow of Mike Harris, who ran Ontario for most of the PCs cycle, but is running under the pseudo-populist strain that is Ford Nation.

Mike Schreiner is the Green Party leader; the party currently has 0 seats.

The Liberals had 58 of the 107 seats, but 55 as Parliament was dissolved. The Progressive Conservatives had 28 seats in the last election, down to 27. The New Democratic Party had 21 seats in the last election, down to 18. There are 3 seats that are independent, minor party, and no affiliation with 4 vacant seats.

The 2018 election will have 124 seats, up from the current 107 seats in Queen's Park.

Ford replaced Patrick Brown as the PC leader in March following sexual misconduct allegations. The intriguing legacy from that election night was that Tanya Granic Allen likely was the difference for Ford's victory, yet Granic Allen is no longer a PC candidate in the Mississauga Centre riding because of a 2014 video where Granic Allen reportedly was strongly homophobic while discussing sexual education in Croatia.

We've already seen some oddities in the election such as Ford announced on a video that he would build up the Greenbelt and then taking that back after outcries. Someone in the PC party hired actors to increase the Doug Ford crowd at the May 7 leaders debate, a move straight out of the Donald Trump playbook.

Kathleen Wynne is trying to be the first female premier in Canadian history to win re-election and hang on to government. Ontario wants change, so that doesn't bode well for Wynne, who inherited a few messes from Dalton McGuinty, the Ontario premier from 2003-2013.

The 2018 Ontario election is June 7. This election might not be boring, but the question remains as to whether this race will be good for democracy in Canada's largest province.

May 21, 2018

Gary Bettman's Frankenstein experiment ended up being the roadblock to the best Winnipeg Jets season in their NHL history. The Jets can hold their heads high, despite the lack of timely offence in the Western Conference final. Winnipeg can say with pride that the team won the "Norris" division title in the postseason.

The Jets have been consistent in not falling into long bad streaks. Before the series, Winnipeg hadn't had back-to-back losses since March 10-12 and hadn't had 3 straight regulation losses in over a year.

For the first 4 games, the desert team responded quickly in crucial moments with a goal following a Jets goal. Even in Game 5, that team got the goal when needed.

Mark Scheifele ended the postseason with 14 goals, 11 on the road setting a new NHL record. Scheifele had 2 of those road goals in Game 3 from primary assists by Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor, respectively. Game 4 goals came from Patrik Laine and Tyler Myers. Josh Morrissey ended up with the lone goal in Game 5.

Connor Hellebuyck might not have been as sharp in the last few games but had excellent postseason numbers.

The Jets were only outscored by 4 goals in the Western Conference final.

Back to Bettman's science project, the NHL did heavily cheat for the newest desert team in the expansion draft. The NHL allowed its teams to protect only 7 forwards, 3 defencemen and 1 goalie, or 8 skaters and 1 goalie. During the last NHL expansion in 2000, teams were allowed to protect 9 forwards, 5 defencemen and 1 goalie, or 7 forwards, 3 defencemen, and 2 goalies.

"The league also required teams to expose players with significant NHL experience who were under contract through next season, closing loopholes and helping Vegas even more. Third-line forwards and top-four defencemen were available from almost every team," noted this analysis.

NBC had more time before Game 1 to tell the Winnipeg story for those who missed the Winnipeg Whiteout video that NBC aired before Game 1 or if you want to watch the segment again. The network played clips from the video before Game 5. A nice nod to showing the Manitoba legislative building (above) before Game 5.

The NBCU coverage didn't air anthems in the desert but did air that garish pregame ritual. The NHL should frown upon a team ritual against the opponent before the game. Looks petty and unprofessional.

At the conference final stage, there is simply no reason to not show the anthems. NBCU did show the anthems in Winnipeg for Game 5.

NBCU finally had a Winnipeg Jets player as the pregame interview in Patrik Laine in Game 5. We had seen countless opponents interviewed on Winnipeg ice and elsewhere but this was the first Jet to get that interview.

NBCU kept the on-air team consistent for the last 3 games with Kenny Albert, Joe Micheletti, and Brian Boucher. Pierre McGuire was in for Boucher for the first 2 game in Winnipeg.

The NHL Network ran a rebroadcast for Game 3 but used the NBCSN feed instead of the CBC feed. The channel didn't even have a rebroadcast for Game 4. The NHL Network did run a CBC version for Game 5.

May 18, 2018

Editor's note:This story was updated to include Grace Park starring in a new ABC drama.

The headlines were supposed to be about Hannah Simone, an actor who belongs to the world (Canada included), being cast as the Greatest American Hero on ABC this fall. Even though the update of the early 1980s show got a pilot order, ABC isn't going forward with the reboot.

We do have the wrapup of the U.S. TV upfronts where major networks determine which shows are cancelled, renewed, or might get a new run either as a midseason replacement or on another network. Within that world, we look at where Canadians are in the U.S. TV landscape.

Nathan Fillion is in the lead role of The Rookie on ABC about the LAPD's oldest rookie.

Rachelle Lefevre is the lead in Proven Innocent on Fox this fall. Lefevre plays a woman who is wrongfully convicted who later becomes a lawyer to fight for those who are wrongfully convicted. You might recall Lefevre in many roles but she recently portrayed Olivia Bloom in Mary Kills People.

Athena Karkanis will be one of the actors on Manifest, a new NBC drama about a airline flight where when they land, they discover the world has advanced 5 years. You might know Karkanis from the third season of The Border on CBC.

Tyler Labine is in the cast of the new NBC medical drama New Amsterdam. Labine played a Canadian RCMP officer in the new Super Troopers 2.

There are plenty of Canadians returning on television. Jessica Paré is back for Season 2 of SEAL Team on CBS. Eric McCormack is back in at least 2 more seasons of the reboot of Will & Grace on NBC.

Colin Mochrie, who has been on every single episode of the American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway, is back with the show on the CW. The debut of the 14th season (6th for the CW) is June 4.

Kids in the Hall alum Mark McKinney and Lauren Ash will be back for Season 4 of Superstore on NBC. Nazneen Contractor is in the second season of Ransom, an international drama that airs on Global in Canada and CBS in the United States. Dylan Bruce of Orphan Black fame is on Midnight, Texas on NBC for Season 2. Norm Macdonald is back as the voice of Yaphit on The Orville on Fox. Bruce Greenwood is back for Season 2 on The Resident on Fox.

Grace Park is back on network TV on the ABC drama A Million Little Things.

Molly Parker will be back for Season 2 of the Lost in Space reboot on Netflix. We will have to wait for awhile to see if Parker and other Canadians will be on the final season of House of Cards this fall. Season 5 featured Parker, Neve Campbell, Colm Feore, and Campbell Scott.

A few Canadians saw their shows cancelled. Hannah Simone ended her run on New Girl after 7 seasons on Fox. As we noted, Simone was scheduled to be the new Greatest American Hero on ABC but the network did not pick up the show.

Kiefer Sutherland will not be the accidental president on Designated Survivor after 2 seasons on ABC. Honourary Canadian Andrea Martin was on Great News, cancelled after 2 seasons on NBC.

Sandrine Holt was written off of MacGyver on CBS and now The Crossing on ABC has been cancelled. Holt did do 8 episodes of Homeland this year.

Lucifer might find new life somewhere else other than Fox, but otherwise Tricia Helfer will be out of a job. Kandyse McClure and Kim Coates were on Ghost Wars on Syfy but that show was cancelled after a single season.

Samantha Bee and Jason Jones are cruising on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and The Detour on TBS. Bee does more with a single half-hour 2-3 times a month than The Daily Show with Trevor Noah can do with 2 hours each week. The segments are creative and informative. The Puerto Rico special got a bit silly but unlike regular news shows, the show spent a lot of time researching those segments.

The Detour had a really nice Season 3 with Alberta subbing for Alaska. The 4 am settings in broad daylight were really hilarious. Season 2 was a bit bumpy and the Season 3 episode Water was a waste of the viewers time. Every other episode used the outsiders approach rather well. The show gave Tony Award winning actress Laura Benanti more of a presence in Season 3 to the delight of the viewers. The Detour has been renewed for Season 4.

Though the documentary won't air on Netflix until 2019, the SCTV cast were reunited at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto on Sunday as part of that Martin Scorsese documentary. Jimmy Kimmel hosted the discussion. The reports of the event were very wonderful.